


Guiding a Star

by Heleentje



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Death References, Friendship, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-27
Updated: 2012-12-27
Packaged: 2017-11-22 15:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/611568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heleentje/pseuds/Heleentje
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the duel against Paradox, Yusei had often wished he could meet Yugi-san and Judai-san again. But now, with the Ark Cradle come and gone, he found that he wasn't really looking forward to it. His memories of them were tainted now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guiding a Star

About three days after the Ark failed to fall, someone had apparently spread his e-mail address to the public, because that afternoon Yusei opened his inbox to a deluge of messages. Most of them were brief, just thank-you notes and quick messages about his duel against Z-one. A few were requests for interviews, and he deleted them all; after the third he resolved to ask Carly if the requests kept coming. If he had to give an interview anyway, he'd rather do it with a journalist he knew and trusted. There was one particularly long, rambling e-mail that started out well enough, but took a turn for the worse after the third paragraph, when the insults towards Z-one started. Yusei read the entire thing with a kind of horrified fascination, then deleted it without replying.

By the time the sun started setting, he'd all but given up on replying to every e-mail. He'd taken to lying on the sofa and was now resolutely ignoring his phone's e-mail icon and the steadily growing number next to it. The messages themselves weren't so bad. Most of them were perfectly polite, and even though Yusei didn't feel like he deserved their gratitude, he appreciated the sentiment. No, what was worse were the select few he deleted immediately, the ones that insulted Z-one or Aporia, never knowing what they'd been trying to accomplish. But at least people still remembered them. They didn't remember Bruno. No one even seemed to remember he'd been a member of Team 5D's.

With a sigh, he dropped his phone on the floor and stared up at the ceiling. Crow was around somewhere in the house, but he had no idea where and he didn't feel the need to go looking. Where Jack had gone, he didn't know. They would move out sooner or later. They hadn't told him yet, but he'd known them long enough to see it coming. He wondered what they were going to do. Heck, what was  _he_  going to do? He wasn't sure if he could cover the rent of three people on his own, even if he devoted himself full-time to repair work. That wasn't even the worst of his problems. He'd promised Bruno and he'd promised Z-one that he'd save their world somehow, but he had absolutely no idea where to begin. He turned around to face the back of the sofa and closed his eyes. He'd worry about that later. Now he just wanted some sleep and time away from all the memories.

He hadn't even closed his eyes for five minutes yet when his phone started ringing, and for a moment, he considered not answering it at all. Had they found his number too? Still, this could be important. He blindly reached for the phone and squinted at the caller ID. Ushio?

"Yusei," he answered the call, not bothering to turn on the video screen.

" _Hey, Yusei, you got some time to spare?_ " Ushio said. He sounded like he was grinning. " _I've got some people down here who want to meet you._ "

"What, now?" Yusei glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen. "It's almost nine."

" _You're going to want to meet them, trust me._ "

Yusei frowned at the screen. It wasn't like Ushio to be so secretive, but as long as it wasn't more fans… "All right. Do I come to Security?"

" _Come to the central square. You know it?_ "

"Yeah." Just a few months ago but years in the past, he'd dueled Paradox there, along with Yugi-san and Judai-san. He bit the inside of his cheek. He didn't want to think about Paradox. Thinking about Paradox inevitably led to thinking about Bruno, and he'd been doing enough of that already. "I'll be there in half an hour," he said.

He hung up after Ushio's confirmation and grabbed his jacket, calling out to Crow that he'd be going out.

"When are you gonna be back?" Crow shouted from somewhere upstairs.

"Don't know," Yusei called back. He found his helmet and headed downstairs, to the garage. "I've got my phone with me."

At this time of night, the trip to the city center only took him ten minutes, and he arrived with almost fifteen minutes to spare. He used the extra time to find a secure place for his D-Wheel. The city center was car- and D-Wheel-free. An exception had been made during the WRGP, but now that the tournament was over, the old traffic rules had been reinstated. He parked his D-Wheel in an underground garage and went the last 500 meters by foot. The central square was busier than he'd expected it to be on a weeknight. He just hoped he wouldn't get recognized here. Whoever Ushio wanted him to meet, it'd better not take too long.

"Yusei, over here!" Ushio's voice came from somewhere behind him. Yusei looked around and found him standing next to a large tree, two other people right next to him. He ambled closer warily. From the distance, he couldn't quite make them out, but they looked older than him, far closer to Ushio's age, and… Wait. That couldn't be, could it?

"Hey, Yusei!" the man on the far right shouted. Yusei squinted.

"Judai-san?!"

Judai-san grinned, and next to him, Yugi-san said, "Hello, Yusei-kun. It's been a while."

As he reached the three of them, Yusei couldn't help but stare. Yugi-san had grown quite a bit since Yusei had last seen him, and now stood taller than both Judai and Yusei himself. Yusei quickly did the math. Since they'd last met, more than thirty years had to have passed for him. Yugi-san's hair, though still maintaining its characteristic shape and different colors, was now streaked with gray. On the other hand, Judai-san looked like he'd simply stopped aging once he'd hit thirty, even though he too had to be in his forties now. He was slightly taller than Yusei remembered, and his face had become sharper, older, but other than that, he could still pass for someone in his late twenties if he wanted to.

"I told you you'd want to meet them," Ushio said. "Yugi came asking for your number today. I figured it would be easier to just call you right away."

"You know each other?" Yusei asked.

"Ushio-kun and I were in high school together," Yugi said.

"He left quite an impression back then. Hard to forget," Ushio said with a rueful grin. Yugi smiled sadly.

"That wasn't really me, I told you."

"But look at you," Judai said, giving Yusei a once-over. "Winner of the WRGP, savior of the world. You're making us all look bad!"

Yusei didn't reply. Judai's smile disappeared.

"I'm sorry we weren't there," he said. "Yubel and I, we were away until yesterday. We would've helped you if we'd known."

Yugi nodded. "I came to Neo Domino right away when I heard the news, but by the time I made it here, you'd already defeated…"

"Z-one. Yeah." Yusei refused to look at any of them. "We managed."

Yugi-san gave him a long, long look, and Yusei shifted uncomfortably. When he'd arrived back in his own time after his duel against Paradox, he'd often wished that he could meet Judai-san and Yugi-san again, and had even considered looking for them. Now, after everything that had happened and everything he knew, he couldn't feel happy about it anymore. It was great to see them again, but his memories of them were tainted now.

"Why don't we get a drink somewhere?" Yugi-san suggested. Judai-san nodded enthusiastically.

"Then I'll leave you be," said Ushio. "Mikage's gonna have my hide if I don't show up on time tomorrow." He shook hands with Yugi-san and Judai-san.

"We should catch up soon," Yugi-san said. "Jounouchi's going to be in town next week."

"Will do." Ushio waved at the three of them and walked off. He'd only gotten a few meters far when he stopped again. "Oh, Yusei!" he shouted. "Tell Bruno he should come by to check in with us one of these days, okay?"

Yusei froze. "Ushio-" he managed, but Ushio had already turned around and walked off. They didn't know yet. Security didn't know that Bruno was dead, that Yusei had killed him. In all the confusion after the Ark, he'd never managed to actually talk to anyone who wasn't part of Team 5D's for more than five minutes. How was he going to tell them? He couldn't keep delaying it; they'd start asking for Bruno soon enough, considering they had been the ones who'd paid for him to stay in the garage in the first place. But tell them that Bruno had been friends with Z-one, who everyone now seemed to hate?

"Yusei-kun?"

"'M fine," he muttered. Judging by the frown on Judai-san's face and Yugi-san's concerned look, neither of them bought it.

"If you don't mind me saying, you don't look fine," Yugi-san said.

"It's just been a long week, that's all," Yusei said with a glance at the clock in the middle of the square. It was almost ten. Maybe they could reschedule and he could go home now?

"What really happened on the Ark Cradle, Yusei?" Judai-san asked, cutting through his thoughts. Yusei didn't find the words to reply. Judai-san grimaced, put a hand on his shoulder and steered him away from the middle of the square and towards a far-off, deserted corner where they hopefully wouldn't attract any attention. There was an empty bench, and they sat down, Yusei on the far left.

"Okay, spill."

"Judai, if he doesn't want to talk about it, you shouldn't be pushing him," Yugi-san said. Judai-san looked taken aback, but Yusei shook his head.

"No, it's fine, I-" He took a deep breath. "You remember Paradox, right?"

"Couldn't forget him even if I tried."

"His future… It did get destroyed. Will be. Z-one was his friend, I think."

"I was afraid of that," Yugi-san said. Judai-san said nothing. His eyes gained a faraway look and for several seconds he just stared straight ahead.

"Yeah," he finally agreed, barely audible. "So, Z-one and Paradox?"

"And Aporia and An-" Yusei stumbled over the name. "Antinomy. They were trying to save their future."

"Funny way to go about it."

Yusei studied his gloves. Yeah, it had been a terrible, terrible way, and now everyone hated them for it without even knowing the full story. He didn't even really know the full story himself. He'd promised to fix their world, but he had absolutely no idea where to start. Who'd want a kid who never even went to high school, let alone graduated university?

"Wasn't Aporia in the World Riding Duel Grand Prix too?" Yugi-san asked. Yusei nodded. Judai-san only looked confused.

"Who?"

"Oh, you and Yubel missed that, didn't you?" Yugi-san told him with a quick glance. "Yusei-kun dueled him in the finals, right?"

"Right." Yusei stared at his knees. "He and Antinomy…" And Sherry, but she barely even counted. At least she'd survived. Better than nothing.

"Who's that?" Judai-san asked again. Yusei looked at the two of them. Yugi-san looked ready to back off if he didn't want to explain, but maybe he should talk about it. Only Team 5D's knew what had really happened on the Ark, and they had avoided the subject as much as possible. Maybe if he told someone else, he wouldn't feel so terrible anymore. He closed his eyes.

"Antinomy… Bruno was a friend." He took a deep breath. "I killed him."

He'd expected shock, or anger, but when he opened his eyes, both of them were just looking at him sadly.

"Ushio-kun mentioned him, didn't he?" Yugi-san asked softly.

"Yeah." And suddenly Yusei couldn't stop talking. About how they'd met Bruno, how he'd lost his memory and how he'd turned out to be the one to teach him Accel Synchro after all. About the Ark, and the duels that had ensued, and all the things that Bruno and Aporia and Z-one had told him. About black holes, and killing all of them.

"Black hole?" Judai-san groaned and muttered, "Really should've come back earlier."

"I practically killed them. Do you have any idea what that feels like?" Yusei blinked furiously against the hot sting of tears. He wasn't going to cry now, not in front of Yugi-san and Judai-san. He bent his head, and Yugi-san reached past Judai-san to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Better than you'd probably want to know," Judai-san mumbled, almost too soft for Yusei to hear. He patted Yusei on the knee.

"I promised them I'd fix it, but I don't know how," Yusei finished his story. "I'm just one person. I can't do it on my own."

"I have a friend who does science… things," Judai-san said. Yusei snorted involuntarily, even as his eyes still burned.

"Science things."

Judai-san elbowed him. "I'm not as smart as you, okay? But Yusei," his voice took on a more serious tone, "we can help you. I'll get you in touch with Misawa."

"Judai's right. You don't have to do this alone," Yugi-san said. Yusei nodded solemnly. No, of course he'd always have Jack and Crow, and Aki and the twins. Just not… He shook his head.

"I know Mokuba's going to want to help," Yugi-san continued. "Kaiba Mokuba," he said for Yusei's sake. "With Kaiba Corporation's backing, you'll get a whole lot further."

"Manjoume too," said Judai-san. Yusei's mind boggled. How many important people did they know between the two of them? For the first time in several days, he was starting to feel something that vaguely resembled hope. Maybe he could do this. He hadn't been able to save them before, but maybe, in the future…

He sighed. "I just wish-"

"You could bring them back?" Yugi-san finished for him. "Unless we figure out how they traveled through time…"

"Yeah, I know."

Judai-san was staring at Yusei's right arm with some interest, but he didn't say anything. Yusei's phone beeped suddenly, and Yusei started. He'd completely forgotten about the time. The clock in the corner told him it was already nearing midnight, and the message told him Crow was looking for him.

"I've got to go home," he said. For all he'd wanted to avoid this conversation earlier on, now he felt strangely sad. It really had helped to tell the entire story to someone who hadn't experienced it.

Judai-san glanced at the screen of his phone. "That late already? We never did get that drink." He laughed softly. "We should talk this over properly. Do you have time next week?"

"I'm free whenever," Yusei said. Right now, he had nothing but time. Sure, he was still planning on reopening the garage just so he could have something to do, but he wasn't really in the mood to face complete strangers yet, and most of the people who came now would just want to hear his story about the Ark. That wasn't something he was going to share with anyone he didn't know.

"How's Tuesday for you two?" Yugi-san asked. Judai-san agreed easily, and Yusei nodded. "Good. Bring your friends, Yusei-kun."

"I'll try to get Misawa to come," said Judai-san. He got up. "Well, Yusei, I'll see you next week," he said. In a softer voice, he added, "Don't be too hard on yourself. You did all you could."

And he disappeared right in front of Yusei's eyes. Yusei stared.

"He does that," Yugi-san said with a laugh. "You'll get used to it." He got up himself and held out a hand to Yusei. "Where are you headed?"

"South."

"I'll go with you."

This late at night, the square was practically deserted except for the two of them. Yusei looked up at the sky, where the Ark had once been. The memory still hurt, and it would probably never stop hurting, but it wasn't as bad anymore. Bruno and Z-one and Aporia had died trying to save their world, and they'd trusted him to do it for them. He hadn't been able to save them in the past, but now, for the first time, he could actually believe he might be able to in the future.


End file.
